Sharp County record., 1887-11-24
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
An Interesting Discourse Evolved
From "Concord and Discord.
The Laying of the Worlds Cornerstone
and the Grand Peace Jubilee-Sin the
Harsh Discord in the Orchestra
of the Universe.

The subject of recent sermon ueLINoi1u
nv Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage tthe Brook
lyn tabernacle was "COncOrd aud DIS
cord - predicated on the following text:
who laid the cornerstone thereof, when the
morning stars sang together.-Job xxXVlu.' o..
DR.. Talmage said: We have all seen
the ceremony at the laying OF the corner
stone of church, asylum or Masonic tenn
nle Into the hollow of the stone were
nlaced scrolls of history and important
documents, to be suggestive if, one or TWO
hundred wears after, the building should
be DESTROYED by fire or torn down. we
rcmember the silver trOwel or iron nam
mer that smote the square piece OF grahite
into sauctity. We remember some Vener'
able man who presided, welding the
trowel or hammer. We remember also
the music, as the choir stood on the scat
tered stones and timber of the building
ohopt to be constructed. The leaves OF
the notebooks futtered in the wind, and
were turned over with a great rustllng,
and we remember how the bass, barytone,
tenor. contralto and soprano voices COM
mingled. They had for many days peen
rehearsing the special programme that IL
might be worthy of the cornerstone lay
ing.
In NV text the poet of Uz calls US to
grander ceremony-the laying or the
Foundation of this great temple ola world.
The cornerstone was a block of light ana
the trowel was of celestial crystal. All
about and on the embankmentS OF cloud
stood the angelic choristers, unrolllng
their librettos of overture, and other
worlds clapped shining cymbals While
the ceremony went on, and God, the
architect,by stroke of light after stroke OF
light, dedicated this great cathedral OF
world, with mountains for pillars, and
the skv for q frescoed ceiling, and Hover
ing fields for floor, and sunrise and Md
night aurora for upholstery.
Who laid the cornerstone thereof, when the
morning stars sang together.
The fact is that the whole universe
was a complete cadence, an unbroken
dithvramb, a musical portfolio. The great
sheet of immensity had been spread out,
and written on it were the stars, the
smaller of them mnims, the larger OF
them sustained notes. The meteors
marked the staccato passages, the whole
heavens gamut, with all sounds, into
nations and modulations, the space be-
tween the worlds musical interval,
trembling of stellar light, quaver, the
thunder bass clef, the wind among the
trees treble clef. This is the way God
made all things a perfect harmony.
But one day harp-string snapped in
the great orchestra. One day voice
sounded ont of tune. One day dis
cord, harsh and terrific, grated upon the
glorious antiphone. 1t was sin that made
the dissonance, aud that harsh discord
has been sounding through the centuries
All the work of Christians, and philan-
thropists, and reformers of all ages is to
stop that discord, and get all things back
into the perfect harmony which was
heard at the laying of the cornerstone,
when the morning stars sang together.
Before l get through, if l am divinely
helped, l will make it plain that sin is
discord and righteousness is harmony.
That things in general are out of tune is
as plain as to a musicians ear is the un-
happy clash of clarionet and bassoon in
an orchestral rendering.
The worlds health out Of tune. Weak
lung and the atmosphere in collision, dis
ordered eye and monday light in quar-
rel, rheumatic limb and damp weather in
struggle, neuralga5, and pneumonias,
and consumptipns, and epilepsies in
focks swoop upon neighborhoods and
cities. Where you find one person with
sound throat, and keen eyesight, and
alert ear, and easy respiration, and regu'
lar pulsation, and supple limb, and prime
digestion, and steady nerves, you find
hundred who have to be very careful be-
cause this, or that, or the other physical
function is disordered.
The human intellect out Of tune: The
Judgment wrongly swerved, or the
memory leaky, or the will weak, or the
temper infammable, and the well-bal-
anced mind exceptional. Domestic life
out of tune: Only here and there con-
iugal outbreak of incompatibility of
temper through the divorce courts, or a
filial outbreak about a fathers will
through the surrogate's court, or a case of
wife.beating or husband poisoning
through the criminal courts, but thousands
of families with June outside and January
within.
Society out of tune: Labor and capital,
their hands on each others throat. Spirit
of caste keeping those down in the social
scale in struggle to get up, and putting
those who are up in anxiety lest they have
to come down. No wonder the old piano.
forte of society is all out of tune, when
hypocrisy, and lying, and subterfuge, and
double dealing, and sycophancy, and
charlatanism and revenge have for six
thousand years been banging away at the
keys and stamping the pedals.
On all sides there is perpetual ship
wreck of harmonies. Nations in discord:
Without realizing it, so wrong is the feel
ing of nation for nation that the symbols
chosen are fierce and destructive. In
this country, where our skies are full
of robins, and doves, and morn
ing larks, we have our national SYMBOL
fierce and filthy eagle, as immoral a bird
as can be found in all the ornithological
catalogues. In Great Britain where they
have lambs and fallow deer, their symbol
is the merciless lion. In Russia, where,
from between her frozen north and bloom
ing south, all kindly beasts dwell, they
choose the growing bear, and in the
worlds heraldry favorite figure is the
dragon, which is a winged serpent
ferocious and deathful.
And so fond is the world of contention
that wa climb ont thrOuUh tho heavanS